Gerry Adams’ Prostate Remedy Available In Belfast At Fraction Of U.S. Cost

Gerry Adams is in debt to his good friend, millionaire businessman and former Mutual of America CEO, Bill Flynn for picking up the tab for the laser treatment he received in New York to remove his enlarged prostate. You can read all about it here.

Bill Flynn – shelled out $40,000 for Gerry Adams’ prostate procedure. In Belfast it would have cost him just $5,500.

The condition can be painful – and Gerry Adams told RTE’s Marian Finucane over the weekend that he had been in pain for five years – can make having a pee something of a constant nightmare and can have a disastrously negative impact on a man’s sex life.

But the conventional treatment can be no joke either. For years the standard procedure involved a surgeon removing the offending prostate with a knife, maybe slicing the nerves that facilitate the male orgasm while potentially transforming the problem of too little pee too much of the time into a problem of too much pee all the time! It was a procedure most men would do anything to avoid.

In recent years however advances in laser technology have allowed surgeons to remove the prostate while minimizing damage to nerves or stimulating the bladder’s urge to empty. The procedure is called Green Light laser surgery and as you might expect it is not inexpensive.

The Broken Elbow estimated the cost of the operation that Gerry Adams had in New York at $30,000 but it seems that this figure was a bit on the low side. Newspaper reports this weekend suggested the true figure was nearer to $40,000.

That makes Bill Flynn a very generous benefactor indeed.

According to the version Adams gave to the Marian Finucane show, there was an element of urgency in his situation complicated by the absence of a facility that could provide the procedure in Belfast.

As Mr Adams put it: “I was in constant pain. I’ve been in constant pain for the last maybe five years. I checked with my doctor and at that time the treatment of that kind was not available in the North. My doctor here quite rightly recommended that I get the very best treatment possible and accepted the US consultant’s recommendation that it should be done with speed.”

A pity then, Gerry Adams didn’t do a little more homework. Had he done so, he might not have had to travel all the way to New York and he might have saved Bill Flynn a whack of money. There’s a private clinic in Belfast called the Chichester Clinic and according to its website it provides Green Light laser treatment for prostate conditions at one-seventh the cost in New York.

Now I don’t know how long this clinic has been providing the Green Light treatment. Its office was closed yesterday so phone calls and emails went unanswered. It is possible that the treatment was not available last August when Mr Adams underwent the procedure but it should be a simple matter to find out. Anyway here is the relevant page (go to the Prostate link) on the Chichester Clinic website:

Oh dear J, time for a lesson on the ABC’s of journalism. Gerry Adams is a public figure, the leader of one of Ireland’s major political parties and he has a particular stance on issues of healthcare, in particular opposing cuts in public service and advocating for higher government spending on hospitals,doctors, nurses and so on. He wants more public health care and implicitly less private health care.

So when a guy with that sort of public position on public health care takes private health care for himself he must expect scrutiny and so must you J even though it offends you. (Incidentally can I ask you a question: if it was any other public figure in this type of spotlight would you be so quick to protest?) It is why the story of his private prostate care in New York became a big story in the Irish media January when the details were first revealed and it is why Marian Finucane asked him about the subject on her radio show at the weekend (although he was also questioned a few Sunday’s ago also on RTE about the same issue and for the same reasons). Her questioning was entirely legitimate. It was not about his bladder or prostate; it was about the conflict between his public position and his private behaviour. If you cannot see that J, then I don’t know what else to say.

Now the other part of journalism, J, is to hold up to scrutiny and check the veracity of statements that public figures like Adams make. It is an integral part of the democratic process and I am sure you would be the first to condemn the media if, say, they failed to quiz Enda Kenny or Gilmore or whoever about their policies or what they say in defence of them.

So the job. J, of a journalist is to check the truth of what politicians say. It is true of all politicians but, I would argue, it is especially so when the politician in question has a track record of being economical with the truth, as Adams has with his past, a past that is responsible for his leadership of his party. Gerry Adams said he went to New York because there was no similar facility offering the treatment he needed in Belfast; in fact it seems as if there might well have been which then begs the questions, did he do his research or is there another reason why he wouldn’t want the treatment in Belfast (for a clue check the ‘Ethos’ tab on the Chichester Clinic website and consider the political implications of him accepting treatment here)?

I’m afraid such scrutiny is part of the price politicians must pay in exchange for a public life. So this is not a story about Gerry Adams’ bladder or any part of his anatomy, J, it is about his public stances as a politician on the issue of health care and in his case as the leader of a major Irish political party which has the preservation of public health care as one of its major electoral planks. ok?

J, I just realised that you are more to be pitied than scorned. Your IP address reveals that you live in Los Angeles so not only do the finer points of public vs. private healthcare go entirely over your head, you are probably completely unaware that the issue of Adams’ prostate care and treatment has been a running story in Ireland since January because of the politics involved. Not only have there been numerous newspaper articles on the issue, none by me incidentally, but the man himself has been quizzed several times in radio interviews. Irish readers read my piece as a small part of an ongoing media coverage that was really about health care policies not the state of Gerry Adams’ prostate. But to you it must have seemed to be all about his bladder and associated parts. So when you sent a comment to this blog you really didn’t know what you were talking about nor any of the background to the story. In such circumstances I have always found it prudent to keep my mouth shut. Perhaps you should learn to do the same.

You make make wild assumptions about me based on my ip address. Because I’m in Los Angeles I can’t know the finer points of public vs private healthcare or the ongoing media coverage of Adams’ surgery??

You know nothing about me yet you have the audacity to say you’ve learned to keep your mouth shut about subjects you don’t know. Ed, come on man, you’re making a fool of yourself.

Now, in response to your first post…

I understand it’s your job to investigate and point out the lies and hypocrisies of public figures. You do it well. And, in regards to this story, you’ve already done it in an earlier blog. But, honestly, would you be going into such detail about a mans operation if it wasn’t this man and an operation that is slightly embarrassing? If the answer is yes (and I do take you at your word) then I sincerely apologize. I really do. It just seems that you have such vitriol towards Adams that when I read your stuff I wonder if it clouds your objective journalism.

what on earth is embarrassing about an enlarged prostate? it happens to most men of a certain age. incidentally it was mr adams and his party who made the issue public back in january, not me, and it was they who were therefore responsible for the public vs. private healthcare issue becoming a public debate. there is a cardinal rule of politics which applies as much in ireland as it does in america; for a politician nothing is private.

and no, i don’t think you do understand why this subject is being written about. it is not about his prostate or any other part of his body but about the contrast between holding a public position on a matter of great public concern, i.e. the future of health care in ireland, and behaving privately in a very different way, i.e. using private health treatment. that’s the reason why newspaper articles have been written about the issue and why mr adams has been questioned in a number of radio interviews. and no, i don’t think you do know about issues such as private vs. public healthcare as they are debated in europe where socialised medicine is much cherished and when it does become an issue when a politician says one thing and does another. if you did, you would know that this, not his body, is why the subject is being written about.

Incidentally, the story has taken another twist this evening as you can read here in a story written by harry mcgee, the irish times’ political correspondent: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2013/0211/1224329906873.html – the story has now become something of a financial scandal but can i just highlight one sentence that harry wrote: “Mr Adams denied that he was being a hypocrite for availing of private care while advocating public health services.” You see J, there’s more than me who recognises this as a political issue. everyone sees it in that light and it is why it has become an issue of public debate & discussion. If you want to complain to harry about his story just email the irish times, just as you did me. enjoy your swim but watch out for the sharks; if they get even a scent of your prostate, surf board or no surf board, they just might have it for dinner. and it would be terribly unfortunate to make an idiot of yourself twice in one day. bye.

From: The Broken Elbow >To: jabbathejane@yahoo.com >Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2013 1:25 PM >Subject: [New post] Gerry Adams’ Prostate Remedy Available In Belfast At Fraction Of U.S. Cost > >The Broken Elbow posted: “Gerry Adams is in debt to his good friend, millionaire businessman and former Mutual of America CEO, Bill Flynn for picking up the tab for the laser treatment he received in New York to remove his enlarged prostate. The condition can be painful – and ” >

What’s the biggest contradiction, the outspoken advocate of public healthcare availing himself of a salubrious private clinic, or the committed anti-imperialist bankrolled by a conversative oligarch in the world’s leading imperialist state?
Can I recall something about Mr James Connolly warning republicans that kicking out the Brits and setting the green flag above Dublin castle would likely be a busted flush without a social revolution?
Well it turns out the old boy was way too optimistic. The way things are going it’ll be Old Glory over Stormont (or whateiver it’s now called) and the Washingon consensus from the ardent defenders of Wolfe Tone’s memory. Oh what a grand ole statesman Gerry’s turning out to be!